It's What He's Used To
by purpledog100
Summary: Jack and Maddie not only know about Danny's powers, but they took them away out of concern when Danny came home one night close to death. Passing by a burning building, Danny feels the need to save the people inside, but will he make it out alive?
1. Chapter 1

Hello! 'Tis me. I usually don't post many stories, but the idea for this one jumped out at me a few days ago. This story idea has probably been used before, but I couldn't help but write it. My mom had asked why my dog, Toto, was staring at her, begging her for food when she didn't have any and I replied, "Because it's what he's used to." Thus, this story was born.

I had meant for it to be a oneshot, like Duplication, but it turned out longer than expected. So it'll be a twoshot and I'll post the second chapter tomorrow, probably, or maybe Monday.

Important: I'm not sure what to call the text between the asterisks, I wouldn't really call it a flashback, so I don't know. I had trouble writing that part, so I'm not sure if it's any good. Thoughts are in italics.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

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It's What He's Used To

Fifteen-year-old Danny Fenton sat in his swivel chair, spinning in slow, endless circles. He seemed to do this a lot lately, especially since he had told his parents he was half-ghost. He would sit in the chair for hours, sometimes, thinking about the past few months and all of his regrets. He wasn't really sure if he regretted telling his parents his secret, but he definitely regretted what happened soon afterwards.

Danny had been seriously considering telling his parents he was half-ghost for a while, and with his friends and sister urging him on, he finally told them. They were stunned at first, and a bit more than confused, but they finally understood. His mother was worried about him getting hurt, but Danny assured her that he'd be okay. He had been fighting ghosts for over a year now and had a lot of experience. His father was more proud and excited than worried. He had Danny recall most of his battles (Danny didn't tell them of his evil future self, he wasn't quite ready for that yet) and had him display his powers up close.

It had been great at first, having his parents know his secret. They accepted and supported him, he didn't have to lie to them all the time, and they even helped him out with the ghosts when they could. It didn't last long, though.

A few weeks after that, Danny had a big fight with Skulker. He had been alone at the time, with no one to help him. Even when he tried to call for help, Skulker blew his cell phone to bits with his new, high-powered weapons. The brawl had lasted at least forty-five minutes before Danny had a chance to suck Skulker into the Fenton Thermos. By then Danny had sustained some pretty serious injuries and numerous smaller ones.

When he finally arrived at his house, he promptly fainted and didn't wake up until a few days later. Soon after he regained consciousness he had a big fight with his parents. They had been worried ever since he had come home covered in blood. His fever had been high most of the time and they hadn't been completely sure if he was going to make it. They couldn't have sent him to a hospital because they'd find out he was part ghost, so all they could do was sit there and wait, worrying the entire time. This, apparently, made both of his parents extremely stressed, which may have been why the fight was so intense.

In the end, his parents had decided to ban Danny from ghost hunting. Danny immediately started arguing, claiming that it was his responsibility to protect the town and the ghost would overrun the place if he wasn't able to stop them. His parents had argued back, saying that they were both very capable ghost hunters and that it was their responsibility to protect him.

The dispute went on, until Danny claimed that it was impossible for his parents to prevent him from hunting ghosts because he had ghost powers. He had thought he had won, but his dad suggested that they could remove Danny's ghost half. Of course, Danny had absolutely refused that, and his parents, after seeing their son's panicked look, also decided against it.

His parents left him alone after that, heading down to the lab. Danny was immensely relieved, but also tired. After limping into the kitchen to get some water, he fell asleep on the couch.

The next morning Danny awoke to an odd, tickling feeling on his left wrist. He saw a small green and silver bracelet there. He reached to take it off, not partial to jewelry, but found that he could not. It was stuck. He examined it more closely and found that the word Fenton was inscribed on it. Danny rushed into the kitchen, favoring his swollen right ankle, and found his parents sipping coffee at the table.

"What is this?" He demanded.

"It's something we invented last night, son. We made it special, just for you." His dad replied nervously.

"What does it do and why won't it come off?"

"Well, Sweetie, we made it to help you, to protect you." His mom said, even more nervous than his dad. "Now you won't have to worry about ghosts and you can be a normal teenager."

Danny suddenly understood what the device did. He tried to go ghost. Nothing happened. He tried to go intangible. Nothing happened. He tried to go invisible, float, shoot ectoblasts, and create a shield. Nothing happened.

"You disabled my ghost powers?!" Danny screamed.

"It's for your own good, son. You refused to let us take out your ghost half, so we had to do something so you wouldn't get hurt."

Another row ensued after that. It seemed to go on forever. Danny was shocked that his parents would do such a thing to him, but no matter how much he yelled and argued his parents wouldn't cave in.

So here he was, months later, still bearing the bracelet on his wrist. Danny looked at it with distaste. It was always there, reminding him of what his parents unjustly did to him. He had tried many times to remove it, from greasing his wrist to beating on the bracelet with a hammer. Nothing worked.

His life felt empty without his ghost powers. When he had them, he had sometimes wished that his life was normal, but now he wished the exact opposite. Sure, now he had time to hang out with his friends all the time, but even that got tiresome after a while. They went to the movie theater, amusement parks, Nasty Burger, the bowling alley, each other's houses, and the city park all the time. There are only so many things to do in Amity Park and after a while, they start to lose their appeal. Nothing was as fun as laughing at Technus's stated world domination plans or Skulker's puny ghost form.

Danny also felt very insecure and exposed without his powers. He could no longer protect himself. He had always felt confident of himself whenever Dash beat him up at school when he had his powers. He was a bit smug with the fact that, if he wanted to, he could beat Dash up easily, not that he ever seriously thought about it. But now that he had no powers, he was helpless. If Dash ever decided to seriously injure him, there was absolutely nothing he could to stop him. He was too weak.

Worst of all, Danny now couldn't protect the town. His parents were doing an all right job of it so far, but Danny knew he could do it better. His parents kept the lab locked at all times and even took away his Fenton Thermos so he "wouldn't be tempted to fight ghosts." Danny knew that if the ghosts ever planned an invasion, they would all be doomed. His parents weren't skilled enough to handle a whole mob of ghosts at once. All the ghosts had to do was fly out of the reach of his parents' ectoguns' range or turn invisible and intangible. At least Danny was on the same level as the ghosts, well, he had been, anyway.

Danny sighed and started spinning his chair the other way. He missed the feeling of success when he captured yet another ghost in the Fenton Thermos and the sensation of triumph when he mastered a new power. He missed flying, too. It had always helped him clear his head and cheered him up. Now all he could do is sit in a stupid swivel chair and turn in circles.

Round….and round….and round….and round….and round….

* * *

Danny was walking home from school a few days later. He had decided to take the long route home since he was dreading doing the abnormally large amount of homework he had been assigned. Sam and Tucker weren't with him because they had a different perspective and took the normal, shorter way home so they could finish their work as fast as they could. 

_I swear, all of the teachers must meet secretly and decide on what days they'll give out enormous loads of homework. It can't just be a coincidence that each teacher assigned at least two pages of work. Maybe I'll be a teacher someday, so when the other teachers invite me to their secret meetings, I can collect evidence and expose them!_

His musings were interrupted when he heard a fire truck coming down the street, its loud siren blasting in his ears. Danny watched as the vehicle turned left at the end of the street and stopped where Danny could just see the end of it. Interested, he jogged to catch up with it.

_It's probably just a cat stuck in a tree. Nothing really serious happens around here often, unless you count the ghosts. Oh well, it's an excuse not to go home and do homework, though. _

As Danny neared the end of the street he noticed the billowing black smoke rising out of an apartment complex. Reaching the corner and turning left, he saw exactly what was happening. The building was on fire! Danny could see the huge blazes of scorching fire coming out of many of the windows.

Getting over the initial shock of seeing the horrifying sight, Danny turned to see only three firefighters by the truck, rolling out the gigantic hose and attaching it to a nearby fire hydrant.

"What's going on? Shouldn't there be more of you?" Danny questioned.

"Stay back, kid," said one firefighter. "That building's on fire. Wouldn't want you to get hurt or burned."

"I can see that the building's on fire. Are you going to answer my questions? It seems like there should be more than three of you."

"We got a call from a lady who said the upper stories of this building were on fire." The firefighter holding the hose said, bracing himself against the force of the water that was soon to come out of the hose. "The rest of the men left earlier to help the Fentons stop a pyromaniac ghost. One guy is still at the station, trying to contact some of the men who are on-call at home." The man then concentrated on aiming the hose, which now had water gushing out of it.

Danny heard someone scream from inside the complex. "Aren't you going to send someone in to help those people?" Danny said, getting extremely anxious now. The building had been ablaze for a while now, and the hose wasn't going to put out the huge flames quick enough.

"We can't," said the third fireman, who was also holding to hose, trying to keep it steady so the other guy could aim easier. "We don't have enough men. We both have to hold the hose, and Mark has to stay near the hydrant to control the water pressure."

Danny glanced at the first fireman. He was just standing near the hydrant, turning the knob.

"I can handle the water pressure, and then Mark can go in and save those people!"

"Won't work. You're not certified; I can't allow it."

"So you're just going to stand there and let people die?!" Taking the man's silence as a "yes," Danny turned back to the burning building. The top floors were starting to collapse. If there were people inside, they'd never get out without help.

Frustrated, Danny said his other idea to the fireman. "Okay, then give me one of those oxygen masks and _I'll_ go in."

"No! I'm not letting some kid run into a burning building. You'd die!"

"And if someone doesn't go, more people will die!"

Danny was enraged that the firemen refused to break a few rules to save someone. Another scream came from within the building. Danny knew what to do. He had to save those people! He couldn't just stand there and let them die! Ignoring the shouts of the firemen, Danny ran into the building.

The moment he stepped through the doorway, the temperature immediately rose. It was extremely difficult to see with the smoke; hard to breathe, too.

"Hello!? Anybody here? Shout and I'll come to you!" Danny kept yelling, all the while making his way through the complex, trying to find some way to get to the upper floors where people would most likely be trapped. He jumped over a rocking chair and saw the stairs. They weren't in that bad a condition, but he was still cautious running up them, trying to put as little weight as possible on each step.

Danny started shouting once again on the second story. It was a mess, but he still didn't see many flames, except in the middle of one room where the ceiling had caved in. The fire hadn't made it down that far, yet. There was still hope. Once sure that there weren't any people on that floor, he found the stairs again and ascended to the third floor. The fire was much worse here. Bits of the ceiling had collapsed and flames were spreading.

Danny called out again. "Can anybody hear me? Shout and I'll help you!"

Faintly, he thought he heard a voice come from a room to his right. Danny followed it.

"Hello!?"

"Here," said the voice.

Danny went in the direction it came from. He found a man sitting down with his left leg trapped under a large wooden beam.

"Help. I can't move the beam and I think my leg's broken." He said, coughing.

"Okay. We'll lift it together. Ready?" Danny and the man both pushed the heavy beam off of his leg. The man gave a grunt of pain when it was lifted. His leg had a fairly big gash in it and was bent at an odd angle.

"I don't think I can walk," he said.

"I'll help you. What's your name?"

"Greg."

"C'mon, Greg. Put your arm around my shoulder and lean on me. I know where the stairs are."

Danny supported Greg out of the room and to the stairs, Greg coughing most of the time. On the way to the first floor, one of the steps gave out and both of them went tumbling down the stairs. Danny picked himself off the floor. He was cut in several places and he might have sprained his ankle, but he was okay. He helped Greg up, whose leg looked even worse after the fall. They made it through the front door and out into the open air.

They both breathed deep, grateful for fresh air again. Danny set Greg down near the fire truck and the firemen, who were still working the hose. Mark rushed into the truck to grab two oxygen masks and gave them to Danny and Greg.

"I told you not to go in there!" The guy holding the hose said. "You could've died!"

"But I saved someone! Better than what you did!" Danny retorted, breathing deeply into his mask.

The fireman went on shouting at Danny about some code and breaking the law and other such things, but Danny didn't pay him the slightest attention. "Greg, do you know if anyone else was in the building?"

"Yeah. At least two others. A woman and her son. They live two floors above me."

Without hesitation, Danny dashed back into the building, this time with the oxygen mask.

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Please review. Tell me if you think the story is good, or too cliched or if anyone's OOC, or anything else you can think of, even if it's only one word. I know almost nothing about being in a burning building (except what I see on TV), so tell me if anything seems too unreal. I appreciate constructive criticism. 


	2. Chapter 2

I'm back! First, I would like to thank all of my reviewers, especially the ones that told me how to make the fire more realistic. I had already written the whole story, but I tried to fit some your advice in. I think I replied to all of the signed reviewers, but I'm not completely sure because the review alert thing isn't working.

Important: Thoughts are in italics. Since this is a TwoShot, this is the last chapter. There's no more to it, I never planned for there to be more.

On with the fic...

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It's What He's Used To

Danny ran back up to the third floor where he had found Greg, then up some more stairs to the fourth floor, the crackling fire getting steadily louder. By the time he reached the fifth floor, he was out of breath, though the oxygen mask was helping. The heat was especially intense up here and the fire was roaring loudly. He was in such haste that he had tripped at least half a dozen times, not counting the moments when parts of the floor split under his feet or the stair steps cracked, sending him crashing down a few steps.

"Can anybody hear me? Is anybody here?" He called yet again. He heard a high pitched voice scream something, and headed in that direction.

Danny entered another room, if you could call it that. The walls were black and were threatening to fall; it was a miracle they were still upright. He noticed a hand waving at him to his right. He went over and saw a woman trapped underneath a large pile of ceiling tiles, wood, and some furniture that had apparently fallen from the floor above. The only part you could see of the woman was her head, shoulder, and one arm, which was wrapped around two small boys. All three were coughing vigorously.

"Oh, thank God! I'm trapped and my son and his friend need help." She said.

"Here, I'll try to get some of this junk off you," Danny offered, but the woman refused.

"No. That'll just waste time. Help Andrew and Tommy. They need it more than me. You can come back later if you want, but just make sure they make it out, please!"

She was right. There was no way all three of them were going out at once. She was probably injured and he'd have to help her walk. There was no way Danny could do that while also helping the two kids.

_This would be so much easier with ghost powers._

"All right. But take my oxygen mask." Danny said as he gave his mask to her.

"No, give it to the boys. They need it more than I do." She handed it to the boys, who took turns breathing into it.

"Actually, you need it more than they do. I'll get them out. They're going to live. You need to stay alive long enough for me to come back and get you, which means you'll need to breathe." Danny turned Tommy and Andrew. "Breathe in one last time, then give it to her. She needs it."

The two young children nodded, breathed one last time, then handed it to the woman. "Bye, Mommy." Andrew said sadly.

"Goodbye, Sweetheart. I love you. Don't worry, you'll make it. Bye, Tommy." She then looked at Danny. "What's your name?"

"Danny."

"God Bless you, Danny!"

Danny crouched down on the floor, desperately wishing he had another oxygen mask. The smoke was thicker than ever. "Tommy, can you climb onto my back and hold on tight? It'll be easier."

Tommy complied and Danny took Andrew's hand. They picked their way out of the room and back into the hall. Danny helped Andrew over a bedside table and started running as fast as he could toward the stairs. Of course, it was more like fast walking because he had to jump over fallen, burning objects and over holes in the floor and avoid running into the fire that surrounded them.

Their first big problem was trying to get across a huge gap in the floor. It was too long for Danny to jump over it with two kids in tow, and there was no way to go around it. He knew there wasn't much chance of him tossing Andrew and Tommy to the other side and neither of them falling in, so he looked for another possible solution. He looked around for something that was somewhat stable looking and not on fire. He spotted a long piece of wood that was most likely from a wall. It had a few burned pieces and holes in it, but it looked halfway decent.

Danny dragged it over the hole and laid it across the gap. He told the boys to walk across it. Once they reached the other side, Danny thought it would work, but when he stepped onto the wood he could feel it groan and splinter underneath his foot. He tried the same technique he used with the stairs; quick and light-footed. Danny was almost at the end when the wood finally gave. He gave one last leap and managed to plant one foot on the other side and fall to the floor beside Tommy and Andrew. They were all okay, but Danny had scraped his shin badly against the wood when he landed. He could see blood through his ripped and scorched jeans.

All three stood and went on their way, Tommy on Danny's back. It was getting more difficult to breathe every second. They were all violently coughing by the time they reached the fourth floor, desperately trying to get more oxygen into their lungs and less smoke. The smoke was also making it hard to see. Danny and Andrew kept tripping over obstacles that they had only seen when they were a few inches away. Danny could tell that both boys were getting dangerously close to passing out, and if they became unconscious, they might never wake up.

On the third floor, a piece of burning debris fell through the air, landing two feet away from Andrew, who jumped backwards as fast as he could and almost causing Danny to fall. While he was still regaining his balance, Tommy suddenly yelled and pointed. Danny looked up and saw another chunk of burning debris headed for them. He quickly dodged and picked up the pace.

They reached the second floor, which was in a much worse condition than when Danny left it. He picked up Andrew and sprinted for the stairway, hurtling over flaming objects, leaping over small gaps in the floor, and dodging the occasional burning whatever that fell from the ceiling. He arrived at the stairs with the two kids in tow, glad to know they were almost out.

"Just a bit further. We're going to make it!" He shouted.

He wasn't so happy once he saw what was at the bottom of the stairs, though. The very bottom steps were on fire. They were trapped. Tommy slid off Danny's back and stood by Andrew, both mouths open in shock and disbelief.

"What're we going to do, Danny?" Tommy asked.

"We can't get through the fire. It's too high," Andrew added.

"Um….we're going to get out, don't worry. Just give me a minute to think," Said Danny.

_Well, we could go back up to the second story and jump through a window, but we'd never make it. We have to go through the fire somehow. Once again, ghost powers would really come in handy about now._

Danny studied the fire. It was about four feet high, with only three feet between the top of the flames and the ceiling, give or take a few inches. He looked at the two kids, who were looking back at him with soot blackened faces and fear in their eyes. They were probably around three feet, maybe a little shorter. He had an idea, he didn't like it much, but it was the only thing he could think of. He just hoped it would work.

"I'm going to toss you over the flames." He stated.

"What? We'll be burned!" Tommy exclaimed.

"No, you won't. You're just the right height to squeeze between the fire and the ceiling. I don't know what else to do, do you?"

"But what're you gonna do? Are you gonna jump over, too?" Andrew said.

"No, I can't get over it. I'm going to go back for your mom, Andrew. Once you two are on the other side, run to the front door. There will be firemen to take care of you. It'll be all right," Danny added, since the boys didn't look too convinced.

Danny picked up Andrew, hesitated for a moment, then tossed him over the fire, hoping that his head wouldn't hit the ceiling or he wouldn't fall into the flames. Astonishingly, he made it. Andrew landed with a thud on the other side.

"Are you okay, Andrew?" Danny said.

"Yeah, I think so," came the reply.

"Your turn, Tommy," said Danny. He repeated the process with Tommy, who also made it over the fire without great injury.

"Now get out of the building. Hurry!" Yelled Danny.

Tommy and Andrew looked around the first floor until they located the door and ran out. They saw two fire trucks outside and rushed over to them. Some of the firemen were holding large water hoses and more were by one of the trucks, gathering gear. A fairly large group of people (including a few reporters and cameramen) had gathered on the street, held back by the police, who were blocking off the area with yellow tape. Several firemen ran to meet them and walked the boys to one of the trucks. They gave the kids oxygen masks and quickly checked them over for any serious injuries.

"Are you two okay?" One of them asked.

"Yes," said Andrew. "You have to go help my mommy. She's stuck under a whole bunch of stuff. Danny went to help her."

"Danny? Who's Danny?"

"He saved us." Tommy said. "I rode on his back and he tossed us over the fire so we could get out."

The fireman turned to a second fireman and said, "There are still two people inside. Someone named Danny and this boy's mother, who's trapped."

"Danny? You mean that kid that went in earlier?" The second firefighter just happened to be Mark. "You gotta send some men in. He's probably half-dead by now and the woman needs help."

The first fireman jogged over to a group of firemen who were suiting up to go inside the building and explained the situation. A few minutes later about seven men ran into the building, determined to rescue the two people still inside.

After hearing two sets of footsteps run towards the front door of the house, Danny turned around and headed back the way he came. He wasn't sure that, even if he helped Andrew's mom get to the stairs, either of them could get over the wall of fire. He had to try, though. It was best to concentrate on one thing at a time, which right now was getting to Andrew's mom. It was easier said than done, of course. Danny had been in the building for a while, now, and he was beginning to get really light-headed from breathing in too much smoke. His injuries, most noticeably his leg, were paining him, too.

Danny made it halfway up the stairs to the third story when his foot fell through a step. He yanked on his ankle, but his foot was still stuck. He made his ankle and foot as straight as he could and tried to pull it out, but to no avail. He crouched down, grabbed his ankle, and pulled as hard as he could, wiggling his foot, but nothing happened except that a few more splinters got lodged into his ankle. He looked around and found the heaviest thing he could (a candlestick) and hacked at the wood. After a few minutes, he was finally able to pull his foot free and continue up the stairs.

His progress through the third floor was painfully slow. The smoke was so thick that (besides hardly being able to breathe) he couldn't see anything at all, so he was constantly stubbing his toe or falling over things, injuring himself further. Danny decided to crawl from now on; he hadn't earlier because he could go faster walking upright. As he dropped to his hand and knees, the burning in his eyes lessened and he could breathe a bit easier, but it was only the slightest of improvements.

Danny had crawled across most of the third floor before he collapsed. His arms and legs suddenly gave way and he was now lying on his stomach with his head turned to the side so he could breathe what little oxygen he could. He laid there for a minute or two; his mind had gone momentarily blank. Then he remembered what he had to do.

_I have to get to the woman. I have to save her, she's trapped. She'll die if I don't get there soon. Andrew shouldn't have to grow up without a mom. That's not fair. She needs to survive to take care of her kid. I have to get up. Now. _

Danny tried to get up, but couldn't. He tried to move his arms and legs, but they wouldn't move. His body needed oxygen to function normally, and right now it wasn't getting any. It was only a matter of how long he could hold his breath, now. His vision blurred and he closed his eyes, but soon opened them again, knowing he couldn't afford to go unconscious. He saw another burning something fall only a foot next to him, and again tried to get up. It didn't work.

_I couldn't save her. I failed._

Danny's eyes closed again, but this time, they didn't reopen.

Meanwhile the firefighters had advanced to the second floor of the building. Their eyes were darting all around, seeking out Danny and Andrew's mom. Not finding them on that floor, they headed to the third. There they searched again, but didn't see anything. They started jogging towards the stairs when one man gave a shout of surprise. He had tripped over something. He glanced back to see what it was. It was a person. The person was almost totally covered with black soot and dirt, except for some red spots that turned out to be blood. The fireman, David, turned the person over and realized this must be Danny. The teenager must have been trying to reach the woman and fainted. It had been too much for him. Wondering if he was still alive, David took Danny's pulse. It was very faint, but it was still there. He shouted for the others to come over.

"I found Danny. He's got a pulse, but it's really faint. I can hardly feel it."

"Good." Harry, the chief fireman, said. "Get him out of here. The rest of you, keep looking for the woman."

David carefully lifted Danny off the floor while the others ran up the stairs.

"Poor kid. You saved three people. You deserve to live, if anyone does. Just hold on, I'll get ya out."

David carried Danny down two flights of stairs and out into the open air. "You made it out, Danny." He set the teen down on the sidewalk and took his pulse again. But this time, there wasn't one. Danny was dead.

As David stared down at the young hero, he heard a shriek, some police officers yelling for someone to stay back, and then footsteps coming his way. He looked up and saw two teenagers; a female dressed in black and purple, and a male with a red beret on his head. The girl fell to her knees and started sobbing, hugging Danny. The boy stood there, looking like he didn't know what to do.

"Did you know him?" David asked.

"Yeah, he was out best friend," the boy said in a quiet tone.

David heard the crowd cheer and looked to see his comrades carrying the woman out of the building, alive, only moments before it collapsed. She already had an oxygen mask and was breathing heavily into it. He realized that Danny must have given her the mask earlier, therefore saving her, too, but at the cost of his own life. If Danny hadn't given his mask away, he wouldn't be dead. David wondered why he did it. Mark had told everyone earlier how Danny had disobeyed him and ran into the building to save Greg, then run back in to save Andrew and Tommy. He had also saved the woman. He saved four people's lives. Why? Most teenagers didn't care; they wouldn't give a second thought to some burning building. Most teenagers would have passed on by, maybe glancing at it, but not really caring. They would forget about it five minutes later. But not Danny. He gave his life to save four others, even when he was repeatedly told not to go in there.

"Why?" David asked. "Why did he do it? Why did he save all those people?"

"Because it's what he's used to," the girl said.

* * *

Review, please. Tell me what you thought of it. If it was cheesy, if it didn't seem real, constructive criticism, or anything else you can think of. 


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